Novel Radio ItemsJune July 1940
National Radio News Article

June/July 1940 National Radio News

[Table
of Contents] These articles are scanned and OCRed from old editions of the National Radio Newsmagazine. Here is a list of the
National Radio News articles I have already posted. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Here are a few tidbits of breaking electronic communications news from
1940. "Mayday" had evidently recently been adopted as the preferred
distress call rather than "SOS" or even "Help!" For some unknown reason
a radio owner desperate to get his set working again dragged a potato
across the top of a vacuum tube and it suddenly started receiving the
local station. An employee of Edison Company of NYC devised a "storm
detector" for warning of potential lightning strikes in the area (possibly
akin to the classic silk thread and pith ball bell ringer devised by
Benjamin Franklin?). In other news, 'long life' vacuum tubes were
announced that would last up to 4½ years, and some police departments
were finally receiving portable radios. It was an exciting time!

Novel Radio Items

By L.J. Markus

"Mayday" Means "Help!" In radiotelephony, the
authorized international distress signal consists of the spoken
expression "mayday." This corresponds to the French pronunciation
of the expression "m'aider." An aviator in distress at sea (or
the skipper of a small yacht equipped only with radio-telephone
equipment) must therefore say "mayday" rather than "SOS" or
"Help!" if he expects to be saved.

Potato Acts as Antenna! An N. R. I. student
John H. Roberts tells about a customer who made his dead radio
receiver work temporarily by pushing a potato over the grid
cap of one tube, after finding that reception could be restored
by holding a finger on the cap. John found an open filament
in the r.f. tube, and deduced that the potato on the mixer-first
detector grid cap was acting as an antenna.

Radio Detects Storms! A radio-operated device
being used by the Edison Company of New York City lights up
a neon lamp and rings chimes when it detects a storm within
a radius of one hundred miles. The lamp gets brighter and the
chimes get louder as the storm approaches. The outpost stations
of the power company are notified of the approach of the storm
by telephone, and prepare for lightning.

Radio Tubes Live 4 1/2 Years!

The average life of a radio tube in a typical radio receiver
is now about 4 1/2 years, according to the RCA License Laboratory.
An ordinary lamp costing fifteen cents lasts 1,000 hours, while
a radio tube costs about ninety cents and lasts 6,000 hours.
Thus, we pay just about the same per hour of use for radio tubes
as for lamps.

----- n r i -----

Auto Radio Gets European Stations!

The first short-wave automobile radio capable of receiving
European broadcasts directly has been announced by Philco Radio
and Television Corporation. The chassis of this set has been
locked and sealed internally to prevent its use on police bands
in violation of some state laws. Domestic short-wave stations
can be tuned in when reception is poor on the broadcast band
because of summer static.

----- n r i -----

Stencils Are Cut by Facsimile!

Experiments at Lehigh University showed that stencils could
be cut directly on an RCA facsimile receiver simply by feeding
in ordinary mimeograph stencils in place of the customary white
paper and carbon sheet. Hundreds of copies of weather maps.
line drawings or any kind of printed matter sent by facsimile
can thus be made within a few minutes of reception.

Gas Flame Operates Radio Sets!

Now on the market in England is the perfected Milnes thermoelectric
generator, which operates from an ordinary gas supply and provides
A, B and C power for a radio receiver. The unit sells for approximately
$20, and operates a radio receiver at a cost of about 2/3 cent
per hour on the basis of prevailing gas rates in New York City.

----- n r i -----

Washington Gets First Booster Station!

FCC authorization has been granted for a new Washington,
D. C. radio station broadcasting on 1,310 kc. from two widely
separated transmitters having powers of 250 watts and 50 watts
respectively. This is the first time a local synchronous booster
amplifier of this nature has ever been authorized. It solves
the problem of securing full coverage of an area with low power.

----- n r i -----

Police Carry Portable Radiophones!

Complete radio transmitting and receiving equipment having
a range of several hundred feet is now available to special
New York policemen. The unit is mounted on a wide belt supported
by shoulder straps, so that it can be worn under the coat, with
the microphone hidden behind the vest. Evidence picked up by
the officer is broadcast to other policemen at a receiver in
the vicinity, where it is recorded.